Riot On Broad Street

My father once told this to meBoston's gritty historyAnother ruthless battlein a useless holy warHanded down discrepanciesand tensions that'll never easeOne early afternoon on Broad streetIt blew up down there for sure

Broad street's just not broad enoughand you just don't love God enoughand if that isn't odd enoughWe've taken too much crapYou've pushed us round the sod enoughWe'e scrapped and rapped and jawed enoughpoked, provoked and prod enoughSomething's gonna snap

The Boston fire fighting volunteersOn their way to fight a fire somewhereMet with a funeral processionproceeding way too slowA brownstone burns out of controlWe need to lay to rest this soulLoggerheads on broadstreetEye to eye and toe to toe

Broad street's just not broad enoughand you just don't love God enoughand if that isn't odd enoughWe've taken too much crapYou've pushed us round the sod enoughWe'e scrapped and rapped and jawed enoughpoked, provoked and prod enoughSomething's gonna snap

Riot down on Broad streetHand me a brick, a stick, a picketBottle, axe or cobblestoneRiot down on Broad streetAnd if I'm going downHell, I'm not going down aloneI won't go down alone

And when the fight was overthey retired to the Clover,Silver Dollar, Thirsty ScollarWhatever pubs they had back thenThe Brownstone was in ashesBroken Bones and bloody gashesand a casket sat on Broad street'til the sun came up again

Broad street's just not broad enoughand you just don't love God enoughand if that isn't odd enoughWe've taken too much crapYou've pushed us round the sod enoughWe'e scrapped and rapped and jawed enoughpoked, provoked and prod enoughSomething's gonna snap

Riot down on Broad streetHand me a brick, a stick, a picketBottle, axe or cobblestoneRiot down on Broad streetAnd if I'm going downHell, I'm not going down aloneAnd if I'm going downHell, I'm not going down aloneAnd if I'm going downHell, I'm not going down alone